DESCRIPTIVE LIST AND MEANS OF CONTROL 
COMMON BRAKE, OR BRACKEN 
Ptéris aquilina, L. 
Other English names: Eagle Fern, Upland Fern, Turkey-foot Brake. 
Native. Perennial. 
Propagates by spores and by rootstocks. 
Season of leaf-production: Early spring until autumn frosts. - 
Fruiting fronds: Ripe in August. 
Range: Throughout the world. 
on the Pacific Coast. 
In this country most troublesome 
Habitat: Upland fields and pastures, open woods, and thickets. 
Every one knows the Bracken 
under some name, for it is the 
most widely distributed of all 
the ferns and its distinctive, 
very large dull green, three- 
parted fronds are like no other. 
Most members of the Fern 
Family demand shade and mois- 
ture, but this one is not so par- 
ticular. It varies much in 
size. In the Eastern States it 
is usually one to three feet tall, 
but on the Pacific Coast it 
grows six to eight feet, and on 
the moors and mountains of 
Scotland the horns of the 
“stately stag’’ are barely to be 
seen above it. (Fig. 1.) 
Its creeping rootstock is 
black, somewhat less than a 
half-inch in diameter, often 
twenty feet or more long, and 
penetrates the soil deeply. All 
0 
x 
Fic. 1.— Common Brake or Bracken 
(Pteris aquilina). X %. One branch 
of three-parted frond. 
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